Acting on Opportunity the Hidden Key to Success

Opportunities are only useful if they are acted upon. This is probably the single most overlooked success key that the majority of small business owners fail at. Opportunities in business happen often in business but they don’t happen all the time. They come in waves. They ebb and flow just like markets and when they happen the only way you will benefit from them is if you seize the opportunity and act. Does this mean that you will have to take a chance? Absolutely. Will it always pay off? Of course not but the one guarantee that anyone can make when it comes to opportunities is that it’s guaranteed that it certainly won’t work out for you if you don’t act upon it. Inaction often is a great way to mediocrity and failure in business.

Here’s a good example from one of my clients. As the owner of several lead generation sites, I had one particular site in Waco that was generating quite a substantial number of leads. I was working with a company that quite simply didn’t recognize the value and opportunity in what I as providing. When it came time to put their money where my leads were, they dropped the ball. They failed to see the value of the amount of business I could and was providing them for the long haul. So, I was forced to look elsewhere.

After several calls I happened upon a company that was in the same industry but that didn’t have a web presence at all. Sometimes when a company doesn’t have a web presence and they have been around awhile, it can be difficult to get them to see the value and the opportunity that someone like me can bring to the table. Well, the owner was not only receptive of the idea, but he over performed with providing his service. He recognized the opportunity I was giving him and he went out of his way to prove that he was the guy to handle it. Fast forward six months and he has expanded his business to be one of the fastest growing landscaping companies in Waco, Texas.

He could have done like the other company did and just take advantage of the free leads I was providing him and then back out when it came time to make a deal. Now, one could argue that the previous company acted on the opportunity of me providing leads to them for free for a period of time but I would call that taking advantage of rather than acting on the opportunity and turning it into a vehicle which is going to help me to grow my business. Short sighted fear based scarcity thinking might work for a bit but businesses that take this on as a value are doomed for failure and stagnation. I have no doubt that in another 6 months my guy is going to overtake their market share and put them out of business.

One of the reasons that the previous company gave me to not pay for the leads what they worth was that they didn’t close every lead I gave them and that they had to pay their workers in addition to themselves so that they didn’t make the total value of the leads. Let’s put this in perspective. I had already given them approximately $20,000 worth of business in 30 days that they closed. Now let’s say that after costs of my fees and payment to workers they still would walk away with $10,000 per month pre-tax. Even if they walked away with only half of that, that is still an extra $60,000 per year. Heck even if you half that again it is still and extra $30,000 in business added to their bottom line.

Now keep those numbers in mind while I share with you what they wanted to pay me for that. Are you ready? $50 per month. They wanted to give me a whopping $50/month for $20,000 worth of business. Even if you want to say $5,000 worth of business per month…$50 bucks! That’s $600 dollars a year. So in essence, in order to make sure they didn’t spend $601 dollars or more a year, they threw away $60,000. Unbelievable but you know what, I’ve come to realize that there are more people who would rather save $600 now than make $60,000 in 12 months then there are people that can recognize the value of future earnings. But let’s not throw those people under the bus too much. That don’t have the advantage of knowing for sure that they would get their money back. These people already made the money to pay me for future leads. They already knew I could do what I said I could do. There was literally NO RISK. I even stipulated that should the leads ever stopped or dropped below a certain level then they wouldn’t have to pay me.

Now, when I contrast with my client now I can see a fundamental difference in the way he views business. When I called him (out of the blue) and told him that I had some business for him, he didn’t shut me out. He wasn’t overly skeptical. He was open to the possibility that I could do what I was telling him and after the first lead he even tried to pay me. In other words the moment he knew the value was there he was ready to pay for it. He delivers value to his clients everyday and he recognizes the fact that it’s important to pay the value for the opportunities that deliver to ensure that those opportunities turn into long term growth for himself, his company, his workers, his family, and his community. That’s real business.

Now, I have to get on finding more businessman like him so I can help them grow as they help me grow. Good day.